CAR count update with OPEN BILL STORK sighting

Well, at long last!  An OPEN BILL STORK!  I just had a feeling that I would see one today and low and behold, we saw not one but 2 Open Bill Storks at the very first spot of water we came to on our CAR count route.  I have been looking out for these rare visitors to our shores for some time.  Open Bill Storks have been spotted around South Africa for the last two months and everyone has been all atwitter about it.  They are usually found on the north Eastern  boarder of South Africa and are only rarely seen this far south.  For some reason, quite a large flock have arrived and made their presence known.  I have personally been driving around looking for them and at last, there they were, standing in a small body of water on the side of the road just outside of Villiersdorp.  A great start to the day. (Pic courtesy of Warwick Tarboton)

Donella Young and I set off early this morning from Villiersdorp and worked on the new route that we as a club can tackle from now on.  The first 4km of the route were the most productive with plenty of blue cranes, a Southern Black Korhaan, quite a number of Spurwing Geese and 2 Black Headed Herons as well as the much anticipated Open Bills.  Almost at the end of the route we came across a rather large pan and found a lone Black Stork (above) sitting in the middle of it. (Again, pic from Warwick Tarboton).

Blue cranes my pic.  Spurwing Goose and Pale Chanting Goshawk pic from Warwick Tarboton.

Many other birds were seen along the route such as the Namaqua Dove, a couple of Bokmakieries, a Common Greenshank, a pair of Southern Pale Chanting Goshawks, Pintail Whydahs, lots of swallows, a couple of Jackal Buzzards, and this family of Cape Spurfowl.  There were about 10 of them all together, very sweet.

Pics of Cape Spurfowl my own.

On returning to Villiersdorp, we found a Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk in the big oak tree outside Donella's house.  He was quite happily jumping from branch to branch looking for nests to raid.  He wasn't much concerned with us standing right beneath him and let us get some nice pics.  This is a pic I took.

This CAR count will need to be done again in winter and is usually done on the last Saturday of July.  I hope that some of you from the club will join me in doing this important contribution to big bird research.

** For amazing bird pictures, please look at www.warwicktarboton.co.za **

CAR count on Saturday

Just to let you know that I will be joining Donella Young who is the CAR (Co-ordinated Avifaunal Roadcount) co-ordinator at the ADU (Animal Demogrpahic Unit) at UCT (University of Cape Town), tomorrow, Saturday the 30th of January, to work out a new route for counting birds, from Villiersdorp.

The CAR count is a twice-yearly count (once in summer and once in winter) to count large birds on farms and in fields.  It has been going for quite a number of years and the data collected has brought great results.  These counts take place on the same day all over the country and only birds like cranes, bustards, korhaans and Spurwing geese are counted.

I will let you know how the day went and hopefully put up some pictures for you.  I am hoping that this new route which will start in Villiersdorp, will be a route that we as a club can take responsibility for in the future.

By the way, if you would like to leave a comment here on this blog, just look at the bottom of this message for the word "comment" and click on it.  Leave us your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you.

Regards

Robyn

Weekly update 24.01.10

Birds, birds, everywhere we look!

It has been quite a birding week for us this week and here's all news.

THE PAARL BIRD SANCTUARY

It all started last Sunday (the 17th of Jan) when 9 members of the club met up with Vernon Head and the rest of the Cape Bird Club members for a morning at the Paarl Bird Sanctuary.  We got there at 08h30 and made our way to the viewing platform looking out over one of the larger pans.  It was jam-packed with water birds (such as great white pelican and all 3 teals including the Hottentot Teal which is not often seen in the Western Cape) and we had Vernon calling out the names of all the swifts, swallows and martins that were darting about above our heads.  We spent about 2 hours there before we had all seen everything there was to see.

We then drove on around the pans and stopped along the way at the side of the pans to get better views there and then on to the hide.  We eventually ended up at the Kingfisher Pond for lunch under the trees and we did get a view of the Malachite Kingfisher that we were looking for.  It was a wonderful morning out even though the temperatures were well into the 40's.  I will mention again, because it is so important, that you are NOT encouraged to visit this area alone or in small groups.  A number of birders have been relieved of their possessions there by the neigbours and it is becoming a problem, even though there are 2 guards with dogs patrolling the grounds.  It is a great birding site but please go in large groups and take very good care.

RINGING AT THE CLARA ANNA FONTEIN GAME RESERVE

 The week continued for myself and Adel when we attended the most amazing netting and ringing of Barn Swallows at Clara Anna Fontein in Durbanville.  We joined ringers of the Tygerberg Bird Club and set up 3 mist nets in a huge reed bed in the private game reserve. Then we sat down in the field to await the arrival of thousands and thousands of Barn Swallows.  They seemed to emerge from the ground over the horizon like flying ants after a rain storm.  As the sun was setting, the sky above us was filled with birds as far as we could see.  The circled above us for a while and then all of a sudden they dove into the reeds and settled in for the night.  It is at this point that they get caught in the nets.  Once all the birds have settled in and no more birds are flying over head, we go in and carefully remove them from the nets.  They are then placed in specially made carrying boxes and we move to a birders house near by.  We then settle in for the next few hours and ring each and every bird, taking note of their wing measurement, count their wing feathers and in some cases, weigh them and take tail measurements.  In total we ringed 107 birds that night.  Special finds were a Banded Martin, which I had never seen before, and a re-catch, which is a bird that already has a ring and we found one that had been rung at the London Zoo. Very Exciting!~!

Each dot is a bird... the sky was filling up.

The lovely little Banded Martin surprise.

Brian, Robyn and Annina busy ringing

LYNEDOCH ECO-VILLAGE

Birding continued in full force on Saturady (23rd of Jan) with Robyn & Adel Kadis, Cynthia Woodsong, Johann Burger and Gerhard Hugo along with a visitor, Gavin du Plessis, doing the bird list at Lynedoch Eco-Village.  We spotted a total of 30 birds in the compound and were happy to find a Namaqua Dove and a little group of Common Waxbills along with Speckled and White-backed Mousebirds among the many others spotted.

SPIER ESTATE & EAGLES ENCOUNTERS







The Michael Jackson's Glove fan club

We then moved across the road to Spier and did a bit of birding around the back of the Eagles Encounters centre along the river.  We found a huge thicket of lovely ripe bramles so stopped to have a bit of a nibble.  We joined the Eagles Encounters 11.00am show and were allowed to have some of the owls sit on our hands.  We were treated to a demonstration of how the raptors hunt their prey and then walked around the centre having a close up look at some of the other raptors they have there.  Such powerful, beautiful birds.  After a quick picnic lunch we made our way home.

The Bino Brigade - Johan, Cynthia, Robyn and Adel and Gerhard at the back.

Left:  A Black-Shouldered  Kite hovering over his food.

Right:  A beautiful Secretary Bird



KESTREL COUNTING IN WELLINGTON

Later that afternoon we were once again on the move and made our way to Wellington. We could not find the roost at first and decided to stop on the side of the road and wait for the kestrels to start coming in.  Fortunately, Cynthia Woodsong provided a lovley road-side cheese and wine snack and we snacked in style!  As we were watching, the kestrels started arriving and landing on the nearby pylons.  We made our way towards them and found other birders already there and keeping watch.  They were all Lesser Kestrels except for one female Amur Falcon.    After a half hour or so we made our way into the densely populated neighbourhood where the Bluegum tree is that they roost in.  The sun was now almost completely down and the Kestrels had started coming in thick and fast.  They began circling above our heads (similar to how the swallows had) and then suddenly started dropping into the tree.  Amazing!  And thats when we started counting.  They hover above the tree for a few seconds, close their wings and dive.  Within about 10 - 15 minutes all the birds were in the tree and we had counted about 700 birds.  A great experience.

Once again, every dot is a bird, this time a kestrel.



We now have a break in our birding programme but we will soon be on the go again so check your schedule and join us if you can.

Welcome to BirdLife Berg River

BirdLife Berg River is the official bird club of the Berg River area and is based in Franschhoek. We are a relatively new club and would like to invite you to join our monthly meetings and our week-end outings. We meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 7.00pm at the Franschhoek Traveller's Lodge (Cnr of Reservoir & Akademie Street).
Last night, Wednesday the 13th of January 2010, was our AGM. A new committee has been elected and we will be meeting shortly to arrange the pecking order. A very interesting talk was given by Anthony van Zyl on Kestrels, that he clearly has a huge passion for. He has also invited us to come along to the International Kestrel Counting Day on the 23rd of January in Wellington. Evidently there is a huge kestrel roost there which he monitors on a regular basis.

The activities for the club for the next 3 months are as follows:

JANUARY:

Sunday 17th Jan - We will be joining the Cape Bird Club in their outing to the Paarl Bird Sanctuary. Meet at FTL at 08h00.


Saturday 23rd Jan - A full day of birding with an early morning start to do a bird list at Lyndoch Eco-Village followed by a visit to Spiers Eagle Encounters programme (cost R50.00).
That afternoon we will be making our way to Wellington to assist Anthony van Zyl in his kestrel count at the roost as the birds come in at sundown.
You are welcome to do all or only a part of the days activities so please join us.


Saturday 30th Jan - The annual summer CAR (Co-ordinated Avifaunal Roadcount) count is held country wide on this day. Specific routes are laid out for volunteers to travel and count big birds on farms and open land. All data is submitted to the ADU for analysis and year on year, it has been a great success. This is not an official club activity but you are welcome to join in.


FEBRUARY:


Saturday 6th Feb - The annual summer CWAC count takes place at Botrivier & Kleinmond Estuary and at many other wetlands country wide. We will be joining other groups at this count and will be leaving Franschhoek at 05h00. Any early-birds who would like to join us, please let me know asap.


Wednesday 10th Feb - Monthly meeting at FTL at 7.00pm. Guest speaker will be Mike Graham who will give us a presentation on his birding trips to Namibia, the Kalahari and Botswana. Remember to bring along your Franschhoek bird list for January.


Saturday 20th Feb - Overnight camp at Verlorenvlei. The club has been wanting to visit this fantastic birding area for a while. We need to book accommodation so please book asap. There are tent sites as well as chalet/bungalows. More info on request.


MARCH:


Wednesday 10th Mar - Monthly meeting at FTL at 7.00pm. Guest speaker will be Peter Nuppen from SAFRing who will give us all the details on bird ringing. Promises to be a great night followed by-


Thursday 11th Mar - Peter Nuppen will be doing a bird ringing demonstration in the grounds of FTL from 5.00am till 9.00am. He will have his nets up and show us how he catches the birds, holds them and collects data and then rings them. Please come along and see how this is done and get the chance to hold a real live bird in your hands for close observation. It is truely amazing and thoroughly enjoyable. See you there!


Friday 19th - Mon 22nd Mar - Our mother organisation, BirdLife SA, is holding their annual AGM at Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga. It is a long weekend and a long trip up but promises to be very well worth attending. Wakkerstroom is a special project of BirdLife SA's and is under threat from mining. It is an excellent birding location and is a Ramsar site. Birds you will never see here are in abundance and many activities are being planned for the weekend. If anyone would like to join me on the trip to Wakkers (as it is affectionately known), please let me know asap as accommodation has to be booked.


Sat or Sun 27/28 Mar - We will be visiting Paarl Rock Botanical Garden this weekend and Meidad from BirdLife SA's Cape Town office will be joining us (if his schedule allows). More info closer to the time.

For more information, please email franschhoekbirdclub@gmail.com